U.S. sanctions against Cuba save taxpayers billions

The next time someone tells you that the U.S. embargo against Cuba does not work, remind them how the sanctions have deprived the Cuban regime of hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars in U.S. government guaranteed loans the Castro dictatorship has no intention of every paying back.

States owe CZK 22bn to ?R at end-2012, Cuba biggest debtor

Prague, March 18 (CTK) – Total claims of the Czech Republic on foreign states stood at Kc22.07bn at the end of last year, down from Kc22.35bn a year earlier, with Cuba the largest debtor, said a report of the Finance Ministry to be submitted to the government for information on Wednesday.

Countries repaid Kc176m worth of debt last year, the report which CTK has at its disposal said.

Debt from civilian loans totalled around Kc16.1bn. Albania, for instance, paid Kc20.6m in instalments, Iraq nearly Kc152m and Russia over Kc3m in interest on overdue instalments.

Falcon Capital paid Kc397,000 in overdue interest in connection with unblocking part of the Russian debt back in 2005.

Debt from special – secret – loans stood at Kc5.98bn, a drop from 2011’s Kc6.1bn. The Czech Republic has provided special loans to Libya and Cuba. They concerned, for instance, deliveries of military equipment in the past.

Cuba is the biggest debtor, the report said. Its debt from civilian loans tops Kc6.6bn.

This year, Cuba has responded to the Czech request for a possible conversion of the Cuban debt into a convertible currency.